"You can execute your plan perfectly, and just one person can beat you for a heck of a lot of money," the casino's General Manager John Culestu said. "Your whole plan goes right out the window."

Fortunately that didn't happen last month.

Slot machines are mostly predictable for operators. The hold, what the casino keeps after winning payouts, is programmed in through a complex set of calculations that aggregate several variables among thousands of machines. The casino must quantify maximum and average bets on individual machines, the number of machines in the casino and each machine's anticipated usage.

Table games are different. They are based on both skill, the length of time a player plays, and well, good old dumb luck.

And Mount Airy had it last month.

Other events, like a flukey alignment of the planets, made the month spectacular, according to Culestu.

August had five Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, all high volume traffic days in the gaming business. Next, the Labor Day weekend fell right at the end of the month, producing even more business.

"We had a significant entertainment calendar to drive traffic throughout the month," Culestu said. That included the male review show, Australia's Thunder from Down Under, which performed on Friday and Saturday nights through the summer. The resort also hosted an outdoor concert by the classic rock group Kansas.

The casino tinkered with its table games, adding two new ones, rearranging the mix of games and creating a new player pit.

Culestu increased the number of blackjack tables, which usually produce greater revenues, he said, while reducing the amount of poker tables. He added two new tables with traditionally high holds, and industry term used to describe how much money the casino gets from a game after winning payouts.

He also moved games around the floor, taking advantage of traffic flows and the popularity of certain tables.

The casino also created a "mini-pit," a grouping of five new table games that includes additional roulette games and single zero roulette, according to Tonya Lewis, the casino's entertainment booking, advertising and public relations director.